


Seven Years

by Lyviel



Category: Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-06
Updated: 2014-03-06
Packaged: 2018-01-14 17:47:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1275391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyviel/pseuds/Lyviel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Link's thoughts upon discovering how bad things have gotten during his seven year absence</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seven Years

It had been seven years but to Link it had only been a moment. He had just wanted to help and instead had been locked away for so long. He knew things had not gone well and he was afraid of what he would find outside the Temple of Time so he simply stood there, a hand resting on the huge double doors. He knew Sheik was in the adjoining room probably watching him, no doubt waiting impatiently for him to get on with it, and he couldn’t stay here forever. He took a deep breath and and pushed the doors open.

He had to stifle a gasp as he stepped onto the stone path outside. A darkness was over the place more oppressive than a normal night and there wasn’t a building in sight that wasn’t ruined and decaying. There was no life here. He remembered this place being cheerful and active and his heart ached at the horrible change. He walked slowly down the path staring around him in horror at the grisly transformation that to him had only taken a moment.

As Link reached the square a horrible shriek shook him out of his thoughts. There were several creatures standing around and once again horror grasped him. They looked like husks of the people who had once lived here! But no, he had encountered them before. They were the redead. While he didn’t know how they came to be he couldn’t let himself think that they had once been the people he had seen smiling here seven years past.

Their shrieks were paralyzing and he had to take a deep breath to calm the rising panic it caused. No matter how many times it happened he would never get used to it. The redead was slowly turning towards him but he knew he would have plenty of time before it reached. As soon as the paralysis wore off he took a sharp right and ran down the path away from them. He wasn’t sure what he was doing; the exit was in the other direction but he just had to see Hyrule Castle first. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting but certainly not what he found.

He rounded the corner and gasped in horror at what he saw. Where the castle should have been was a pit of fire. Floating above it with some unknown magic was a hideous dark castle that he had no doubt was of Ganondorf’s making. He approached the pit, thinking of all of his friends, both those in the Kokiri forest and all those he had met on his travels. They had to live through all of this. They had to live through this and he was just gone. Did they think he had abandoned them all? Did they think he was dead? He collapsed to his knees feeling hopeless as the guilt overwhelmed him. What of Princess Zelda? She had been so sure he could save them all and instead he had just vanished letting this madman take control. How had she felt? She knew Ganondorf would kill them all and no one believed her. He was supposed to help her, to show everyone that she was right. Instead she had been forced to flee for her life, but had she made it? Had she been forced to watch her friends and family die?

He stood, fists clenched tight. He wasn’t sure what he could do but he would fight. He would fight for all of the wasted time, for all of the lives lost, and he would not stop until he knew everyone was safe; until he had put all of this right again. He turned away from Ganondorf’s castle, silently promising that he would be back when he had the means to defeat him and destroy that terrible castle.


End file.
